Sociology, By Auguste Comte's Theory Of Society

Sociology is the study which seeks to understand society, social life and to understand ourselves, humans, as part of that social world [http://www.sociologyonline.co.uk]. The term ‘sociology’ was developed by Auguste Comte, a French philosopher, in 1838. Comte believed that scientific facts are able to explain the social world. Sociologists, such as Comte, study issues including: education, inequality and religion. Comte believed that sociologists play crucial roles in guiding society. In the 18th century the ‘Enlightenment’, which was a philosophical movement that stressed human reasoning over bling faith and obedience. At the time it was different to the religious and political order, as it encouraged a ‘scientific’ was of thinking. Political

Functionalism is a macro-consensus theory. The fact that it is ‘macro’ means it analyses society through social institutions such as: peer groups, education, workplace, mass media and religion, and the fact that it is ‘consensus’ means functionalists focus on the harmony is society ad see society working as a human body would [https://www.thoughtco.com/functionalist-perspective-3026625]. They claim society is made up of interrelated parts that work together to maintain homeostasis. Functionalists see the world through rose-tinted glasses so focus on the stability, harmony and continuity of society as a whole. Hence, they have a positive outlook on society. However, a drawback to functionalism is that it doesn’t look at or focus on an individual and their role in society. This theory can be linked to social stratification. Social stratification is a concept which focuses on the existence of structural inequalities within society. The most distinctive form of this comes via the social class, the division of society into the upper, middle and lower/working class. Also, society can be stratified according to age, gender and ethnicity. This shows the link between an individual and society as it proclaims that society is positively layered into social classes, gender and ethnicity, and this is necessary for society to run smoothly, hence, individuals must be put into a social class to maintain order. Functionalists emphasise

This was developed by philosopher Karl Marx [Haralambos, M, 2009: 23], he believed power was one of the most important aspects of society. Marxism is a Marco conflict theory, meaning it analyses society through social institutions and ‘conflict theory’ means it sees society is not an harmonious and balanced structure, but in fact groups of people are in conflict with each other for power and scarce resources, and this power struggle is what motors society [Kirby, M, 2000:519-524]. Marx’s stated that society evolved from capitalism, communism and socialism. He identified two major class systems; the ruling and the oppressed, and he believed these two antagonist groups struggled for power. The ruling class were known as ‘The Bourgeoisie’ and the oppressed class as ‘The Proletariat’. The ruling class were those who owned a means of production such as land or factories. Therefore, if you owned them you were classed and the Bourgeoisie, however if all you owned was your labour to sell for an income, you were classed as the Proletariat. Marx believed the Proletariat lived in a state of ‘false consciousness’ whereby they didn’t recognise the real nature of their social/economic situation. However, when this transitioned into a state of ‘class consciousness’, and they understood their place in the social system, Marx believed a revolution would take place. The strengths of the Marxism theory are: it looks at society as a